Mobile Effect
by The P.B.G
Summary: Does first contact necesserily mean a good thing? Mankind stands divided, humanity is under attack. Greed and suspicion leaves little to who you can trust. And as the mobile suits transforms the ways of war across the galaxy it is up to two old types to save the universe. Who will survive?
1. Prelude to war

**Disclaimer:** I neither own or created Gundam or Mass Effect, this is a work of Fanfiction.

* * *

 **Mobile Effect: Prelude**

* * *

"Well what about Shepard," a soft male voice asked? "She is from the colonies and more immortally she is a Spacenoid. I feel, it will reflect well on the crew."

In agreement a deeper but fluid voiced man spoke up. "Interesting, it says here she was an ace pilot during the war. She is experienced and feared" he mused frankly, as though he was considering her strengths and weaknesses. "But her family didn't approve of her joining Zeon."

Noting the uneasiness in the man's voice the softly spoken person asked "why is that" in surprise?

"Because she is from Riah, Chairman, her family were outspoken critics of the Principality before the war" the fluid man explained sternly. "Especially her brother as he is a keen Federation loyalist and dedicated pilot."

"Yes, but this other Shepard, her twin, he is also a possible candidate." A third voice nearly shouted boldly, the force of his personality pushing the others back, as he descends into a rant. "His leadership of a successful break out from a Zeon PoW-camp caught my eye. He is the kind of man that can adapt to a situation and lead men into battle. Even if he is a Feddie he is to be admired," he added distastefully despite his obvious praise.

"His sister though successfully took out an entire enemy base single headedly and managed to eliminate ten mobile suits before their pilots could even reach them."

"I question her mental stability though," said a fourth, far more gravelly voice. "At Torfan she butchered the enemy combatants and endangered the lives of her men. All things considered her brother's ability to defend Elysium alone proves his leadership and courage over hers."

"She is ruthless I will give her that much," the second voice countered. "But she has shown time and time again that she gets the job done, we need that."

"At what cost?" the gravelly voice asked once more.

However the soft tone finally returned swiftly cutting off any argument. "Enough" he cried. "We will take them both. If you think they can work together?" he asked.

"They need to work together" the fluid man claimed; "otherwise if we can't trust our own family the Alliance is doomed." talking in a way which conveyed deeply held beliefs behind every word.

"I will make the call" the first voice stated causing a murmur of agreement from the gathered men.

* * *

 _In the year U.C. 79 alien visitors using faster than light technology stumbled upon humanity locked in a devastating conflict and brokered peace. Three years following the horrific war mankind's factions gained access to new technologies and have since spread to the stars, bringing with them their war machines and prejudices. Together this new species has upset the existing terms of strategic warfare with their new weapons shifting both galactic politics and strategy._

 _The races of the galaxy call it the greatest military refit in Citadel history._

 _Humanity calls it…_

 _A mobile suit._

* * *

Marching through the Normandy always left Shepard in a slight sense of awe; the young dark skinned human male could hardly tell this brand new warship was human as he stared around it with his dark warm eyes. The way its halls curved organically overhead and the artificial gravity under his feet always kept him firmly on the ground was a stark contrast to the Columbus-class transports he had served on back in the war. It was brightly lit and had wide open areas, with a crew barely numbering over fifty, unlike the narrow corridors where he and his old squad mates were forced to live uncomfortably on top of one another. The fact that the halls and floors were either padded or covered in a plate form of durable ceramic, rather than sheet metal, still slightly shook him: it was so different, so alien, yet oddly calming. But as he determinedly made his way through the so called CIC, he couldn't help but wonder why the helm and the bridge were so far apart. Still despite its calming nature for some reason the large room unnerved him. Maybe he was just used to confined spaces like his cockpit, he mused.

As he marched up the steps into the long hall that connected the bridge to the CIC, he noted the twelve computer terminals flanking both sides where data analysis, communication crews, damage control and similar duties were all crammed painfully into eight by twelve meter corridor. Indeed the fact this new ship, the Normandy, had such a small crew was another thing that amazed him, it truly was a marvel of engineering, even if it freaked the hell out of him how few people there were on-board from time to time.

As he got half way he could hear over the intercom the voice of the ships helmsmen run through the final pre-flight checks.

"Arcturus relay is in range. Calculating transit mass and destination… all boards are green" he announced sternly as he began the countdown. "Hitting the relay in three… two… one!"

Suddenly Shepard felt an unpleasant sense of vertigo as the decks beneath him shook ever so slightly. He had been told by the engineers that this was the ships 'miracle device' an element zero core that was shifting the crafts mass when it was caught in the Mass Relay's tunnel of zero gravity space or entering faster than light travel. The physics of it still bent his brain somewhat and he didn't know why but every time he went through a 'FTL jump' he felt yesterday's lunch decide to make a return trip up from his stomach. Rubbing his belly and pressing down his plain white normal suit he reached the end of the hall and walked onto the rather compact bridge right into a rather grumpy and alien face.

Nihlus they called him, he was a member of the alien race called the Turian's and he had been dispatched by the Citadel Council to oversee the Normandy's first active shakedown run. He had an avian appearance with hard facial plates and scally blackish brown skin with thick quills sweeping back into a long decorative crest. But for reason like all his kind his red black armour possessed high collar around his neck , a collar that Shepard realised how heavy it was when it hit him in the chest as the alien barged into him to force him aside.

Rubbing himself where he had been hit on his standard issue normal suit Shepard sighed as he tried to get over the shock of seeing the humanoid creature so far removed from what he had expected an alien to look like. Letting the shock pass quickly he entered the bridge and into what was obviously an argument.

"Listen if you remember to zip up your jumpsuit after you take a leak that's good: I just jumped us half way across the galaxy and hit a target the size of Revil's ball. So that's incredible. Plus he is from the council so he has to be up to something" the pilot was saying in a cocky manner as he moved the holographic screens that made up his displays with his gloved hands. "Call me paranoid."

"You're paranoid" replied a man in black hair beside him, a man named Kaiden Alenko, a good man and even better pilot, "the Normandy is a Zeon, Federation and Council initiative they have a right to have someone on board to keep an eye on their investment."

Shepard weakly sighed. This had been the frequent topic of discussion on the Normandy since it had left the Arcturus dockyards five hours ago. He had overheard around several of the crew debate the topic of why an alien was on an Alliance warship. In Shepard's personal view Kaidan's point made perfect sense of course, but it still didn't stop the rampant speculation of the scuttlebutt coming out with all sorts of frantic theories, or snide remarks.

"Or to stop you Feddies from ripping us Zeons a new one," the pilot stated darkly causing a young blonde man to the left of helmsmen, to twitch his mouth up into a smile.

'And there it is.' Shepard thought rolling his eyes, their pilots infamous sense of humour and more importantly the rampant casual racism that was getting the Commander's blood to boil. It was testament to Kaidans ability to stay cool that he did not react to the subtle jab at him or the recently arrived Commander: merely voicing his dismay with a saddened face and disappointed remark as he got back to work. "Rather hash."

"Simmer down Joker," a familiarly cool and crisp female voice ordered: one that had caused Shepard's blood to run cold. A woman with piercing black eyes, dark skin almost identical to his and shoulder length purple hair and a long scar snaking down her left cheek and over her lip strode slowly onto the bridge. "Oliver stow that smirk," she barked again "remember we have to be the ones to set the example" announcing her orders in a smug manner glancing at Kaiden as she tightly grasped the helmet of her deep purple normal suit close to her chest.

Shepard instinctively bit his lip as he was overcome by an all-consuming wish of being anywhere else but here right now. The woman beside him drove him mad, and not in a good way like the girls back home, no this woman legitimately made him see red all to often. If he had known she would be here he would likely never have taken the post. '

Still' Shepard lamented, as he absently adjusted his form fitting gloves, if he had to work with her he might as well being the one to make the attempt.

"Commander Shepard," he sternly said to the woman on his left, not even daring to look her in the eye as he spoke, absently slicking back his hair.

"Commander Shepard," came an even stiffer reply from the purple haired women, whose head turned away ever so slightly from the man beside her.

The three men sitting at the front of the bridge looked over their shoulders at this peculiar site as their two superior officers stood awkwardly away from each other.

"O-okay," Joker managed to say to the incredibly awkward situation, before turning back to his control board only to jump as a message suddenly came up through the intercom.

A serious professional voice that could only belong to a lifelong officer barked through catching everyone in the room off guard. "Joker, status report!"

Despite Joker's loud mouth he gave an immediate response. "All boards are green Captain Anderson. We have just cleared the mass relay and stealth systems will come online shortly."

The Captains sharp tone still remained as stoic as ever as he gave orders. "Good find us a comm buoy and link us into the network I want mission reports relayed back to the Alliance before we reach Eden Prime."

"Yes Sir," Joker snorted with a clear tone of mocking sarcasm, "also better brace yourself our mutual alien inspector is heading your way."

"He is already here," Anderson answered his tone darkening: "have Shin and the Commanders meet me in the conference room. Anderson out."

"I think you pissed him off," Oliver commented casually.

"Yeah well he is a Feddie," Joker said frustratingly shaking his head "he always sounds pissed when he talks to any Spacenoid."

"Stow that tone Joker." The Shepards chastised together in perfect unison causing the two of them to glare angrily at each other with bitter hatred.

No audible words passed between them, at least any that the three other bridge crew could see: but when the female Shepard spat on his normal suit and then stormed off they all stared at the remaining pilot who was glowering at her back.

Joker pulled as face as he watched this scene unfold before looking up at the remaining Shepard. "So-o" he began slowly, elongating his words as he spoke with hesitation "Are you two related Kane?"

Not in the mood to entertain him Kane Shepard gave the frank and truthful response.

"Yes, She's my twin."

* * *

Commander Shepard. Commander Victoria Shepard: The Butcher of Torfan, Residue, Vic Psycho, she had heard all the names, but now having to share the only title she liked. She had been proud when she had been promoted to Commander and recommended for the Alliance rapid deployment squadron, and the fact 'he' was here, it made her blood boil. 'How did anyone as soft as him get anywhere in the military,' she thought angrily as she made her way down the steps and into the CIC?

Unlike most of the crew the large CIC didn't really unnerve Victoria. Instead she found it practical, and in truth the more space on a ship the further she could be away from her backstabbing excuse for a brother. But as she crossed the deck Victoria's footsteps began to get heavier, each angry thought of her brother made her gut tighten causing that familiar numbing feeling beginning to overtake her. Falling forward slightly she grabbed onto the A shaped console at the centre of the room, she stared up at the holographic map that hovered a few feet above her head and took a moment to compose herself.

'The stars were really quite beautiful' she smiled pulling herself back onto her feet and looking around: thankfully no one had noticed her fall. Taking one deep breath she broke back into her determined stride.

Or she would have.

She only got in three steps before Victoria found herself being blocked by a rather angry face.

"Commander Shepard isn't it," the man asked, holding a data pad in one hand as he hovered between her and a second man who was overseeing one of the navigation terminals.

Taken aback Victoria was unsure how to respond, but as she read the man with his well-groomed blondish hair but thick podgy build, her expression faltered as she realised he was one of the Federation crew members. Needless to say she was not in the mood.

"Yes," she asked for the sake of regulation?

Taken aback by her rather blunt tone, the middle aged man pulled an expression which seemed to indicate both his surprise at her rather hash tone, and his equal contempt that she dare speak to him in that way. Nonetheless he tried to bury the flash of annoyance with a twisted smile, although the attempt merely made Victoria roll her eyes.

"As the head mechanic of all Federation machines on-board I would very much like to see if I could have a look at your machine Commander Shepard… I have always wanted to look at a kamp…"

"No." The man pulled a face at Shepard's remark and looked as though he was going to snap at her.

Thankfully she was saved the trouble as the man hovering behind the insufferable Federation Mechanic was Pressly.

"Let it go," the ageing navigator stated in a tired exhausted tone, uncharacteristic of him, "I already told you, Major Matsunaga is the officer you want, he is the only person on board who can authorise your request so give it a rest Franklin."

Rounding on Pressly the head mechanic now waggled a finger at him causing both Presley and Shepard to exchange exasperated glances. "That's Bidan to you!"

"Why you!"

The conversation quickly descended into a rant between the two officers, both of whom were claiming seniority and clashing over Zeon and Federation procedure. Bidan was quoting the federation regulations from memory and was pointing out how it was absurd that he as a head mechanic should not be allowed access to all the machines. Pressly meanwhile while on the back foot was glowering more and more at the tubby shorter man claiming that the Alliance regulations made it clear that such actions had to be approved by the highest ranked officer of the respective faction on a ship. A fact that Bidan called stupidly complicated: to which Presley insisted was necessary for state security.

Shepard however could only sigh. This was not something she needed. Causing that same nagging feeling to well up in her again, especially as she caught the other Shepard walking past.

Getting herself together she turned to go only for Bidan to round on her again. "Well Commander" he demanded sternly, "can you talk to the Major for me? If we are to work together we should… share our resources."

Snorting, she stormed across the rest of the CIC, barging past her brother, and towards the door to the conference room: spitting over her shoulder. "Yeah that's a rosy idea, but would you Feddies really allow us to looks at those GM's you have downstairs while we are at it?"

Bidan however was not one to give up and rushed after her, slamming into the male Shepard's shoulder.

"Well of course," he exclaimed in a more positive manner "it's fairly simple technology."

"And if you had a Gundam?"

"Erm…"

* * *

Kane Shepard had reluctantly dragged himself out of bridge and after his sister, having crossed the CIC and walked past her where Bidan was hassling her over some regulations, in a few seconds. He had decided early on that he liked the idea of sharing resources as it had plenty of benefits, and he supported the technicians working together even if Bidan did come on a little strong with his view. But there was no denning he knew his stuff.

Reaching the panelled wall that separated from the conference room he found his way blocked by two people standing there and chatting. Smiling to himself he recognised both of them. One of them was Shepard's a subordinate, although Shepard preferred the word squad mate, with a beret and light brown skin, wearing the Alliances new blue uniform that nearly everyone on the ship was wearing. A real fusion of Zeon more form fitting space suits and the federation pocket happy dress uniform. The other person was a fair, but ageing women in the new skin tight grey white doctor's uniform, a person he had gotten to know quite well over the years.

He greeted them both the only way he knew how.

"Corporal Jenkins, Dr Chackwas," he greeted.

As he got closer the two turned and smiled at him greeting him in the same way, with Chackwas merely nodding and Jenkin's giving a rushed salute: but both saying the same thing "Commander" with the utmost respect.

Jenkin's as usual was chomping at the bit and seemed more excited than usual "hey Commander, you don't think we'll be at Eden Prime to long I am itching for some real action?"

Chackwas merely gave a dry retort to this: "I sincerely hope you're kidding Corporal, your idea of 'real action' usually ends with you in the med bay while I fend off the Mechanic's trying to murder you because of the repairs you make them do."

Jenkin's rubbed the back of his neck, but rather then smiling he seemed to have something else on his mind. "Yeah well… thanks Doc. Still it will be fun to see my family, my mother moved out there after the war."

Shepard nodded in agreement. Many people's families had left earth in the last three years. But he quickly realised Jenkin's seemed more on edge than usual, almost unusually high strung. "You seem a little tense Jenkins, is something the matter?"

Jenkins shifted slightly at his Commander's direct if slightly caring tone as he glanced cautiously over at Chackwas who merely rolled his eyes at him and his rather nervous expression. It was uncharacteristic for him as out of most of the post war pilots that Shepard had worked with he was unusually upbeat, so to see him acting cautiously or scared was soothing different. But after glancing around for a few second he leaned towards his officer and whispered, "it's that alien Commander, Nihlus … I have been reading and well he is pretty open that he is a Spectre" saying this as though it was of some form of significance.

"And that is?"

"He can make anyone, anything disappear. He is an elite operative of the Council, with their complete support and deniability on all actions."

Shepard frowned. For some reason that sounded a little too farfetched, who would trust someone with that much power? However considering humanities sudden introduction to the galactic community meant there was a lot he didn't really know.

Turning to Chackwas he asked for reassurance "is that true?"

Shrugging Chackwas merely gave the best answer she could: "as far as I understand yes. From what I have heard they are a shadow organisation given extra judicial power by the Citadel to maintain galactic peace. They deal with threats that are beyond the Council's standard services to target and have near limitless resources… apparently." Shepard nodded as he digested what his friend said. It all sounded very impressive, but Chackwas tone however seemed to indicate that she didn't believe it, and to be honest neither did Shepard: to put that much trust in a single operative was suicide, considering it only took one bad move to end a person's life it was a power no one should really have. If they weren't exaggerating of course.

Jenkin's however still seemed on edge and said so: "protect it at any cost Doc, don't forget that! He could shoot me if I did so much as take drugs or something like that."

"I'd watch what you say Jenkin's around the ship," Chackwas said raising her hand to hush him "if Shin heard you talking like that you would be in the brig for investigation, joke or not."

Jenkin's gave a sarcastic snort, "heh well those Zeon guys were always wound a little too tightly. Still don't know why we are taking orders from him?"

Shepard decided it was time to put his foot down. "Alright simmer down Corporal, we are currently an Alliance Unit, if you didn't like working with Zeeks you shouldn't have volunteered." Frowning at Jenkins he bared himself up to his full impressive height and glowered down at the man, before suddenly changing to a more calm and respectful tone. "Plus Major Shin Matsunaga has been more than accommodating to us to enforce some Federation regulations."

Nodding Jenkin's agreed "sorry commander I'm just really nervous right now, I think with my gun more than… well you know how that phrase goes." His smile began to reach from ear to ear as he bobbed excitedly, "I'll try to watch what I say around Shin from now on."

Still there was something on his mind, something nagging at the back of his head, and without warning Shepard heard it come out, "so Commander what's your deal with the purple haired Zeek anyway?"

Shepard felt his whole body go ridged. 'So much for encouraging cooperation' he thought bitterly, as he looked around for an excuse to get away. He did briefly reminding himself that he could just tell Jenkin's it was none of his business, but that wasn't Shepard's style: Mother had always told him to be nice to his twin, still as he saw the same purple haired Zeon pilot walk past with the same eyes as him he took a step back.

"Excuse me," he said seriously as he marched after her.

"What the heck was that" Jenkin's asked dumfounded turning to Chackwas.

"No idea" Chackwas shrugged. A faint smile coming to her lips.

"What?"

"So your middle name is Leroy?"

"Yeah so?"

* * *

"Victoria," the male Shepard hissed grabbing the women's Arm and pulling her towards him and forcing her against the wall so she could not escape.

"Kane," came the serious, no-nonsense reply, her dark black eyes glaring back at him.

The male Shepard shifted uncomfortably on hearing his name: it was hard to hear something which she used to say with such affection come across so bitter. "Listen sis, I know you are not pleased about this after what happened but we are working for the alliance so we need to get past what we did and…"

"What you said," a deadpanned Victoria said flatly. At the same time as Franklin Bidan coming round the corner that second, with his trademark sickening smile.

"Excuse me sir, me and the Zee… Commander were just..."

Kane forced the large blonde man aside easily with one arm, not even bothering to look at him as he glared at Victoria.

"Stay out of this please" he said with a stern voice

Victoria's eyes narrowed, her expression blank, but her cold dark eyes looking at Kane's at the exact same level. She didn't say anything, but for Kane she didn't need to.

"Please Victoria, sis, I am sorry for what I said... but if we are going to…"

Franklin Bidan however was not giving up so easily. He grabbed Kane Shepard's shoulder and tried to pull the much taller man off his equally tall sister. His angry podgy face was growing redder and redder as he tugs did little but cause Kane to swat his arms away.

"Commander Shep… Kane, this is most unprofessional I demand that I be allowed to talk to the Zeek now, she has to authorise me to see her Mobile Suit."

Both of the twin's heads turned to face Bidan. Both of them were clearly angry, but each of them had a different kind of discontent towards the Mobile Suit Mechanic. Kane was more of an annoyed and upset appearance of a person who had been interrupted in something very important. Victoria's expression however could boil Gundanium.

"My name is Victoria, Alexandrina Shepard you jingoistic Feddie fuck," she roared at him breaking free of her brothers grip and raising her fist to whack the annoyingly persistent man. Kane however tried hastily to try and grab his sister again but froze instantly as a deep booming voice cut through the scene.

"Enough!"

The three figures froze on hearing the voice, Kane dropping his sister and Victoria snapping her arm back to her side as if she hadn't been doing anything. Slowly both of them, Bidan included, glanced towards the strong but commanding presence.

"You are members of this Alliance's military act like it" stated the tall human man with a well-groomed beard and blue black hair. Marching towards them the figure, like most of the Normandy's personal, were mildly shorter than the Shepard's but with every step he carried himself with the gravitas of someone who was wise beyond his years, and skilled beyond measure. Indeed as Kane could feel a touch of nervousness as he looked at the commanding officers unnaturally clean and white normal suit.

Both Shepard's saluted the man in sink, instantly falling into a perfect line as he strode past them towards Franklin Bidan.

"Sir yes sir," they cried. The man however simply moved past them and bent down a little to look the mobile suit mechanic in the eye.

"Don't you have vital work that needs doing," he asked in a very matter of fact tone, one of his blue black eyebrows rising as he inspected the blonde man.

"Major Matsunaga I was hoping that you could…"

"No," his flat tone radiating all of his apathetic feelings for Franklin's ideas in a single word.

Straightening up and turning his back on his two subordinates he nodded at them and motioned them to follow. Franklin momentarily stunned by his dashed efforts took a second to realise what he was seeing. Realising it was all over, for now, he hurried back around the screen only to bump into three rather confused deck officers, Pressly and Dr. Chackwas who had all been listening intently to what had transpired. He got a few glares from the Zeon crew members as he made his way to the lower decks.

Major Matsunaga however seemed to have dropped the issue for now and beyond a choice statement of: "Let that be the final blow you two have against one another. I want to see better team work in the future." He hardly said anything else to two of them as they entered the conference room. Still the two Shepard's eyes swerved and narrowed as they gave each other a mutual expression of dislike.

It was not over, far from it.

* * *

The conference room was a well-padded oval shaped area, making it feel like you were standing inside the interior of a grey padded egg. Eight seats were arrayed around the room and a holographic terminal stood way at the back away from the entrance. The holo terminal was being used, portraying a picture of an idealistic sunset, and viewing the picture was Nihlus.

"Ah Major Matsunaga I hoped we would have time to talk before we reached Eden Prime… and the Shepard's as well, good," he said with the familiar echo like speech of the Turian's.

"Nihlus…" the major asked taking a position near the centre of the room, "I thought the Captain called us?"

Nihlus slowly turned away from the screen and began to move towards the three humans, "he will be here soon; it will give us time to talk."

Still despite trying to sound casual, the stiffness of how he spoke showed his deep military nature. And it sent alarm bells off in the back of the female Shepard's mid. "About what" Victoria said suddenly tilting her dyed head as she looked the Turian up and down, trying to get the measure of him.

"Eden Prime, this planet we are going to… I hear it's quite beautiful, I would like to know more about it?"

"Can't say," Victoria said frankly as if it was nothing "I have never been. Kane?"

Taken aback Kane was not expecting his sister to actually address him by his first name. "Um… well it's one of our more progressive colonies, primarily focused with producing crops to deal with the post war food shortages on earth, created by the heavy climate changes brought…" Kane stopped himself realising he was going to bring up the colony drop of Operation British; he bit his tongue and continued. "Brought about by the heavy fighting."

Shin looked over his shoulder, his expression remained blank but his eyes seemed a little less stern.

Nihlus however either didn't notice or didn't care about his choice in words and continued as he usually did "yes, it has become somewhat of a symbol for your species hasn't it. A conjoined effort by your Zeon and Federation forces to work together." His reptilian green eyes lingered on both the Shepard's as he talked. "I can admire that."

"Admire?" Asked Kane in surprise, causing Shin to glance at him with his expressionless face.

"Yes, your species may be newcomers but you have made quite an impact: your weapons of war have been highly sought after if I am not mistaken, despite their obvious critics. But still the galaxy can be a very dangerous place." That last sentence seemed to hang in the air, creating an unsettling feeling in the gathered human, the Turian's rigidity always catching them off guard.

Shin however had finally decided to join the conversation. "Is that a statement or a threat?"

Shin's straight to the point attitude caused the ridge of the Truian's fore head to rise up in a similar place to where a human eyebrow would be, the mandibles which covered the gaps between his upper and lower jaw parted in some undecipherable alien gesture. Victoria didn't like it, especially since he was being so coy.

Suddenly aware of the sound of footfalls from behind the three humans glanced back at a short haired, dark skinned human male walking in, dressed in a dark, leather like gold and blue uniform. He looked the part of a man leaving the prime of his youth, but none the less carried himself with the position of a man who knew command. Instantly Kane and Shin's arms rose to salute, Victoria's following only a second later as the brother and sister both said out the same words. "Captain on deck." Then once again glowered distastefully at each other.

"That's quite all right" the Captain said waving his hand for the three of them to be at ease, "I think it's about time we told you what is really going on."

Nihlus nodded in agreement his tone changing from coy to business orientated "this mission is far more than a simple shakedown run."

"That was obvious" Victoria said with a sly smile, while Kane remained respectfully quiet.

"We are making a covert pick up on Eden Prime, colony expansion has found something big," Anderson explained raising his hands to emphasises the seriousness of the situation. "That's why we need the Normandy and its stealth systems." He said in the same to the point, straight to business tone he always carried.

Shin too adopted this formal tone as he asked the all-important question. "What is the cargo?

"A Prothean beacon" Nihlus explained, "made by the same people who built the data cache our explorers were looking for when we stumbled across your species. The same species nearly all galactic technology is built off of."

"Didn't they die out like 50,000 years ago," Victoria asked rather abruptly "what's the hell a thing like that doing on Eden Prime?"

Shaking his head Anderson could only shrug as he replied "we are not sure but that's something for the archaeologists to work out. All that matters is getting that beacon."

"The Normandy's controlled Minosky effect and stealth drives should allow us to touch down on the planet without picking up to much attention from there we transfer it to the Citadel and your Alliance gets in the good books with the Council." Nihlus said with a little more cock sure attitude than seemed reasonable.

"And why is that important?" Kane wasn't sure why but there was something strange abut all of this. "And wouldn't it be more practical to use the joint defence fleet to escort the beacon?"

Anderson shook his head "we need this done quietly Shepard otherwise either Zeon or the Federation will claim responsibility for finding the beacon. I understand it upsets you Shepard" the captain said raising his hand to stop Kane blurting out "but the fact of the matter is the Alliance needs this, both Zeon and the Federation are on the brink of casting off the Alliance altogether. They have infringed directly on colonial assets and are carving them up."

"And if your species looks set for another civil war the Citadel will be forced to step in," the Turian stated the way he talked becoming more and more ominous.

"And that will result in a bigger war, yada, yada, yada," sighed Victoria bitterly, clearly annoyed at being left in the dark.

Nihlus however did not seem to find her dismissive remarks of conflict funny in the slightest. "I think you fail to understand the gravity of the situation" the Turan aid stated getting closer to the purple haired pilot: "The Citadel will force your race into economic and political isolation and let you wither and die. It doesn't need to fire a shot to break you. But as much as it may not seem like it the Citadel does want your Alliance to succeed."

"And what if I said Seig Zeon," Victoria said with a grin squaring up to the Spectre. "I am Zeon through and through."

"Enough" Shin barked causing Shepard to back down out of instinct, "I love Zeon to Victoria but getting into needless battles will just cripple us, the Captain and Nihlus are right."

Nodding again Anderson went to stand between Victoria and Nihlus "the Alliance needs this, by securing the beacon we can prove our effectiveness and legitimacy, if we can do that we can represent both Zeon," he pointed at Victoria "and Federation" and then at Kane, in equal measure, allowing the tension that had been building up to relax.

"Rosy ideals," Victoria spat bitterly.

At this Kane snapped. "Oh will you give it a rest already." taking a few steps towards her only for him to be blocked by the imposing force of the Major. Anderson tried to protest, and Nihlus just stood back to watch.

Suddenly Joker's voice came over the coms "Sir incoming message for Eden Prime" causing Anderson to order it to be patched through.

And suddenly the idyllic image of Eden Prime was gone and in its place was the noise of gun fire and explosions. The frame now showed a mobile suit heads up display, somehow patched into a comm buoy grid, which showed the planet burning. The small green trees and rolling hills were covered in craters and the fields of crops were here and their sprouting small independent fires. Mobile suits both Zeon and Federation were running into view, side by side, as streaks of blue light flew all around them. A white pink Zaku could be seen on the screen briefly a strong women's voice trying to give a frantic explanation: "We are under attack taking heavy casualties heavy..." and explosion shook the women's signal as she went flying "they came out of nowhere" she managed to say before her mobile suits chest erupted in supernova of charred serrated metal and its shattered remains of its magnetic frame. The force of the mobile suits explosion threw whoever was filming the scene mobile suit off its feat and to stare up into the sky.

A deep blood red cloud filled the sky, as meteors seemed to be raining from the sky, with flashes of dark red lightning crackling into and out of existence. And at the centre of it all was the outline of what looked like a colossal hand stretching out to grab the ground.

The pilot got his mobile suit to his feet and looked around at the wreckage: the Normandy's spectators observed the figure grabbing his machine gun and enter into a slow jog as he moved away from what the camera's had shown to be a complete bloodbath.

"This is Ensign Bernard Wiseman… they're all dead, I am all that's left… I… send help…"

And with that the signal went dead, only the crackle of static as whoever was attacking jammed or destroyed the source.

For a moment the gathered soldiers in the conference room merely stared at the static which was on screen. Nihlus seemed to be the most shocked, or was it intrigued, Kane still couldn't tell. But this nervous hesitation did not last as he soon turned to Captain Anderson who dolled out the orders like a conveyer belt.

"Joker ETA!"

"About 6 minutes out, and unless Eden's defence fleet is still intact we are the only Alliance, Federal or Zeon ships in the area."

"Right get us there in four. Shin, Shepard and Shepard get down to the launch bay and tell Oliver and Franklin to start up the Rang conveyer and get the suits ready I want standard teams on the ground as soon as we enter drop levels. Kane get Jenkins, Christie, and Kaiden ready. Victoria gather Crown and head down to the launch bay. Major your with me we need a strategy.

"Anderson get my suit ready as well, I am going down too." Nihlus said in a deadly whisper as he marched to the door with the two Shepards, "this is not a coincidence."

 **Codex**

 **Humanity**

The most recent species to join the galactic community after the Council brokered a ceasefire to a large scale civil war. Humanity have become well known for their industrious ability, building six Kilometre long space colonies and massive walking war machines known as Mobile Suits all prior to the introduction of Element Zero technology.

Despite their recent arrival to the galactic scene humanity have received significant attention due to their early successes in the colonisation of the hostile of the Attican Traverse and stronger of average military. Having only recently coming out of a war which resulted in up to half of their population being decimated their ability to fight back despite the challenges faced has earned them recognition across the galaxy.

Humanities society is still heavily divided from the results of the War of C.E. 2179, polarised between the two major factions of the conflict, the Earth Federation and Kingdom of Zeon. United officially under the Alliance, Humanity has taken to the stars and has attempted to show a united front, but internal political infighting has hampered their growth despite them earning a string of early military successes.

 **Timeline**

U.C. 79 September 10th: The research vessel the Lucen enters the Sol system following an incomplete map to a supposed Prothean data cash. The map unfortunately was corrupted and the exact planet of its origin forces the crew of the Lucen to begin scanning for clear signs of advanced technology throughout the system.

U. C. 79 September 11th: The Lucen discovers the Charon relay, and leaves it inactive. The crew notice significant background noise while scanning, it is initially put down to a mechanical malfunction.

U. C. 79 September 12th: The Lucen crew begin to notice that the incoming static that had been picking up was actually primitive radios waves.

U.C. 79 September 14th: 10:12: After contacting the Citadel, the crew of the Lucen is given the green light to investigate the possibility of advanced life in the solar system. They follow the signal to its strongest point, the third planet from the sun.

U.C. 79 September 14th: 15:51: A Principality of Zeon cargo ship from Axis detects an unknown object while entering the outskirts of the Earth sphere. They attempt to investigate but the object moves beyond their effective radar range. Their report is put down to a mechanical error, but a routine diagnostic detects no issue.

U.C. 79 September 14th: 17:41: A Federation patrol near Luna 2 spots an unknown ship off its starboard bow, attempts to dispatch fighters to pursue, but are quickly called off as the ship rapidly moves out of range. The Report

U.C. 79 September 14th: 18:51: The crew of the Lucen decides to recover some debris and computer wreckage from the war that is floating around the solar system, due to their scanning equipment suddenly crashing due to unknown means. During the salvage operation the crew recover two human pilots: Jon Grissom from the Earth Federation and Jack Harper from the Principality from Zeon.

U.C. 79 September 15th: The Citadel Council okay a melding by two of the Asari crew mates to develop an understanding, while the crew attempt to reverse engineer the language from recovered equipment: the event leads to both pilots reacting violently and are detained however valuable date was gained bot from the Asari and tech crew.

U.C. 79 September 18th: By cross referencing gathered data and the limited understanding from the melding the crew are able to establish a rough translation device. The attempts to communicate with the human crew has a more positive result.

U.C. 79: September 18th: The White base arrives at Side 7, and project V is discovered by Char Aznable. The events of Mobile Suit Gundam begin.

U.C. 79 September 19th: Deciding to open relations with the more dominant space faring faction of the conflict first the Lucen crew stage a few appearances along beaten Zeon supply roots before making contact with the lightly armoured ship the Jotunheim. Initially the Zeon commander in chief Gihren Zabi dismisses the report as a miscommunication, but after a prolific jump into the Solomon defence grid and sending a direct contact request through, the commanding officer Admiral Dozle Zabi, while initially shocked, opens direct communication with the research team.

U.C. 79: September 20th: The next day the crew of the Lucen open communication with the Earth Federation by jumping to Luna II and playing a roughly translated greeting. The message is immediately passed onto general Revil. Meanwhile the crew of the Lucen are tasked by the Citadel to gather information on the species while holding small scale talks with both parties for the next month until an official diplomatic mission can arrive.

U.C. 79 September 21st: a Federation delegation is despatched to meet with the crew of the Lucen, the Principality do the same.

U.C. 79 September 22rd: Char Aznable is forced to return from the front and reinforce the security of the Zeon delegation. Despite his protests he is forced to give up his chase for the White base.

U.C. 79 September 24th: The Diplomatic groups meet the Lucen at the same time, with the Asari crew members acting as mediators: the pilots Jon Grissom and Jack Harper are returned to their respective sides.

U.C. 79 September 25th: The diplomatic teams are moved to the Riah Republic, and humanities introduction into the Galactic community begins.

U.C. 79 September 30th: A fight breaks out between Zeon and Federation officials and Riah forces and forced to separate the two. The crew of the Lucen only look on in horror as the days meeting descends into a row.

U.C October 8th Garma Zabi is forced to give up the chase on the 'Trojan horse' after mounting losses and the crew escaping over the Pacific Ocean.

U.C 79 October 22nd: The Citadel official delegation arrives in the Earth sphere and meet up with the crew of the Lucen.

U.C. 79 October 23rd: The first offical meetings between humanity and the Citadel are held.

U.C. 79 October 25th: A incident occurs when the Hanar portion of the delegation walk up and leave mid-way through a speech made by a Zeon diplomat, who advocated Spacenoid supremacy over Earthnoids. The Scandal is met with extreme anger from the Zeon delegation, although the Hanar refuse to apologise to 'mass murdering barbarian's.'

U.C. 79 October 26th: The leader of the Hanar delegation is dismissed and the Asari delegation apologise to Zeon representatives on behalf of the Hanar. They also offer the Zeon tours of a security warship they brought with them, leading to long talks between the two parties. During the same day the same Zeon delegate who gave the speech was recalled to Side 3 by Gihren Zabi himself.

U.C 79 October 28th: Garma Zabi is despatched by his father from Earth by his father to oversee the important delegation at Riah, amid fears that Gihren's appointed officials are upsetting the Citadel representatives.

U.C. 79 November 1st: The Salarian representatives arrange secret backroom deals on their ships for Zeon and Federation more representatives to meet: Garma Zabi attends and the talks quickly move towards mutually agreed upon peace. However issues are raised over the causes of the war, and ways of elevating resource issues.

U.C. 79 November 4th: Wishing to see how humanity conducts warfare, Turian and Salarian representatives are taken to earth by Zeon forces for a field demonstration. Federation officials protest this, but reject a counter suggestion that they give the same delegates a tour of Luna II. The Turian's are taken down to Earth via Zanzibar and are secretly moved to the most secure Zeon location on Earth, Odessa. It is said the Turian officials laughed at the first Mobile Suit they saw, wondering how anything that large was practical.

U.C. 79 November 7th-10th: Taking advantage of mounting losses created by the White Base, the Earth Federation launches a massive attack against Odessa at the black sea. Fighting is fierce and Garma Zabi manages to coordinate a well-orchestrated defence, however is ultimately ground down under huge numbers. Garma Zabi takes to the field in his own mobile suit to ensure the escape of Turian officials via HLV, and thankfully escapes. However due to Zeon being unable to guard their evacuation of the region, the Zeon retreat rapidly turns into a rout and thousands of soldiers are captured.

U.C. 79 November 12th: To apologise for the incident at Odessa, Federation concede for the Turian officials to tour Luna II.

U.C. 79 November 16th: In secret Garma Zabi proposes the idea of peace to his father, who encourages his son to peruse the idea: and is intrigued by Salarian offers of colony worlds outside of the Sol system. At the same time the Federation civilian government begins private talks over peace, with terms being settled by the Citadel council.

U.C. 79 November 18th: The civilian government of the Federation begins secret talks with Salarian and Asari ambassadors on Riah amid the promises off world business, colonisation and economic opportunities.

U.C. 79 November 28th: Using data collected during their time in the Sol system the crew of the Lucen, under orders from the Citadel defence forces, activate the Charon relay connecting Sol to the Mass Relay network.

U.C. 79 November 29th: The battle of Jaburo begins, ending in a decisive Federation victory.

U.C. 79 December 2nd: The crew of the white base meet Citadel representatives of Riah. Captain Bright is asked for his personal opinion on the war, which he declines to comment on.

U.C. 79 December 5th November: The crew of the white base engage with Zeon forces outside of Riah's neutral zone. The fighting is observed by Citadel delegates, and is heavily criticised. Asari politicians quickly raise the issue publically for the need for peace and species wide unity if humanity is to ever be accepted into the galactic community. The Asari's speech gains widespread approval across the Earth Sphere.

U.C. 79 December 6th November: A leak in the Citadel reveals humanities discovery to the galactic community, leading to pressure for information by the news networks. Despite the sudden flurry of activity, and the knowledge that a Citadel delegation were meeting with the 'factions of the Earth sphere' there was a total absence of information on humanity: leading to demand for more.

U.C. 79 December 7th: In an address to the people of Earth the Citadel delegation begged them to lay down their weapons, for the galactic community

U.C. 79 December 8th: While public support swings in favour of peace, the Federation and military leaderships grow cold towards the Citadel delegations. Gihren Zabi gives his famous Seig Zeon speech, mere hours later and the Federation military petitions the civilian government to pull its delegation from talks on Riah. To counteract this the civilian governments of Zeon, Riah and the federation appeal to the Citadel Council to intervene in the One Year War, amid fears of it spiralling out of control. The request is rejected.

U.C. 79 November 12th: Senior Salarian Ambassador Valern returns from earth to the Citadel to reinforce the need for Citadel intervention, stressing the 'numerous advantages' peace in the Earth Sphere would have not only for Humanity, but the Citadel as well.

U.C. November 13th: 13:20: Citadel approves an intervention taskforce to the Sol system to secure peace, but only if talks break down. They also open a press release on the limited knowledge of humanity. It becomes the first mention of mobile suits on the galactic stage.

U.C. 79 December 13th: 18:00: Operation Cemballo begins. The Federation military push up the timetable amid fears of the growing peace movement, and begin a day earlier than expected. They begin a policy of 'ending the war by Christmas,' and surge towards Solomon.

U.C. 79 December 14th: Operation Rubicon is launched.

U.C. 79 December 18th: The civilian government of Earth and Zeon representatives begin to form a treaty with the approval of Degwin Zabi, in secret. The negotiations are overseen by the Citadel, and they introduce policies to the treaty to help with humanities 'integration into the galactic community.'

U.C. 79 December 21st: General Revil refuses to postpone the assault on Solomon at the request of the civilian government. He is famous for waving at one of his subordinates to cut of the communication mid-sentence, which was later blamed on Minovsky interference.

U.C. 79 December 24th: 9:00-19:00: The battle of Solomon is fought and won by the Federation forces in a single day. The battle sees the death of Dozle Zabi and the end of Operation Cemballo. Plans for operation Star One begin immediately, to strike at the Zeon homeland.

U.C. 79 December 24th: 18:00: The 'Christmas treaty' is signed at the Republic of Riah, between the Principality of Zeon and Earth Federation government: ordering an immediate ceasefire across the Earth Sphere, standing down on all military operations, and the formation of the so called 'Alliance' to represent mankind on the galactic stage. The terms of the treaty recognise Zeon as independence, with Zeon conceding all claims to its captured Earth territory.

U.C. 79 December 24th: 20:00: General Revil orders all forces to proceed to A Baoa Qu.

U.C. 79 December 24th: 22:10: Gihren Zabi orders all available forces to intercept General Revil and retake Solomon.

U.C. 79 December 25th: 1:20: The citadel Taskforce under the command of General Victus jumps into the Earth Sphere and positions itself between the two fleets. The so called 'Victus gamble' proceeded with the Turian commander claiming that the Citadel would support whichever side did not break the treaty. Reluctantly both commanders called their forces off.

U.C. 79 December 25th: 7:00: The Earth sphere wakes up to peace and there is mass celebration across the Earth Sphere.

U.C. 79 December 25th: 10:10: Bernine Wiseman surrenders himself to Christina Mackenzie. Operation Rubicon ends in failure.

U.C. 79 December 28th: The Federation begins to remove its forces from Solomon in accordance with the Christmas treaty. It criticises Zeon for not enacting the removal of troops from Earth yet.

U.C. 80 January 1st: The Principality of Zeon begins to remove its forces from Earth and all space forces past Solomon and Granrda: the process is slow and Zeon ask for an extension on the time it would need to pull its forces out. General Revil refuses to provide an extension on the time limit, but offers HLV's to remove Zeon troops from earth. General Victus gets permission from Revil to use a limited number of Citadel ships on earth to help with the removal of Zeon ground forces. Zeon however does not immediately respond. Later during the evening delegates from the Riah Republic, Earth Federation and Principality of Zeon leave with the crew of the Lucen for the Citadel as part of a more important delegation to educate mankind in galactic politics. Meanwhile in the Earth sphere the 'Alliance' is officially founded and is staffed by volunteers from all three major factions in the earth sphere.

U.C. 80 January 2nd: Several Zeon space divisions and dozens of Zeon earth based regiments go dark and disappear from the grid. Zeon fails to report the incident to the newly formed Alliance or to the Federation.

U.C. 80 January 4th: All Federation forces removed from pre-war Zeon territory. Zeon finally accepts the offer for additional HLV's and Citadel response to remove its remaining forces: with at least 45% of its ground forces still being on the planet. A day before their time limit would expire.

U.C. 80 January 5th: 20% of Zeon forces remain stuck on Earth and Zeon demands additional time to remove its remaining ground forces from the planet. The Federation government refuses to allow the extension, blaming it on a Zeon conspiracy, although the Zeon military claims the forces as AWOL under Citadel pressure.

U.C. 80 January 7th: The Citadel establishes a research institute on Mars to search for the Prothean data cache.

U.C. 80 January 10th: Zeon offers manpower to the researchers on Mars and 'security' to assist with the excavation of the Prothean ruins.

U.C. 80 January 15th: The Federation round up and detain multiple Zeon outposts and imprison its members. Zeon protests and the Alliance is called on by the Council to settle the issue.

U.C. 80 January 31st: A memorial is established at Loum by both Federation and Zeon politicians.

U.C. 80 February 4th: The Alliance decrees for Zeon to pay reparations to the Federation for its failure to remove its troops in time. The Alliance also orders the Federation to release all captured personal: although the Federation insists many Zeon forces are still believed to be missing.

U.C. 80 February 14th: With the help of the Citadel Zeon establishes a mining colony on Mars under the Mars Zeon Mining company (MZM) and opens it to extra solar investment.

U.C. 80 March 1st: Side 1 declares independence from the Earth federation and declares itself the Zarn Union: it however offers trade discounts to the Federation but petitions the Alliance for protection. The Alliance agrees and dispatches Citadel forces to protect Zarn.

U.C. 80 June 1st: As per the Christmas treaty the Citadel begins the retrofitting of various existing Human space craft selected by their national governments for extra solar travel. Zeon elects largely freight and transport ships while the Federation puts forward largely military ships for retrofit.

U.C. 80 April 29th: Through Citadel Support humanity settle 4 extra solar colonies which are renamed: Elysium, Mindior, Shanxi and Demeter.

U.C. 80 July 3rd: Side 6 Declares itself independent from the Earth federation.

U.C. 80 July 8th: Side 6 Re-joins the Earth Federation after a patrol fleet makes a 'stop' on the colony. Further attempts at independence by the colonies are frequently quashed by Earth Federation garrisons. The Alliance does not interfere as no request for assistance was made.

U.C. 80 August 27th: Excavators discover the Mars Prothean ruins.

U.C. 80 August 12th: Construction begins on Arcturus station and the Alliance first and second fleets are formed from volunteers from the three major Earth sphere powers.

U.C. 80 September 1st: The first independent colony ships from Zeon carry off the initial refugees they are required to rehouse for war reparations. They establish them on the worlds of Sanctum, Therum and Yandoa.

U.C. 80 September 25th: The Alliance imposes a tax on the trade of all its member military equipment and bans the public sale of Mobile suits to non-governmental organisations.

U.C. 80 October 9th: The first alien tourists arrive in the Earth sphere but are only allowed into select places.

U.C. 80 November 28th: The Alliance unveils its first commissioned warship built at the Luna space dockyards: it is the first human warship to be built from the ground up around an element zero core.

November 30th: As part of a wars game scenario the Alliance takes part in joint military exercises with other Citadel races in the Widow cluster. The new Alliance warships were found to fare badly against competing Citadel designs but mobile suit tech was demonstrated for the first time to most Citadel races. Alliance forces were asked to leave early due to Minosky particles upsetting many of the Citadel militaries long range targeting systems and scanners.

U.C. 80 December 5th: The Alliance force a Earth Federation patrol off of Zarn after it becomes apparent of a plot by the commanders to back a pro-federation coup within the colony.

U.C. 80 December 25th: To commemorate the end of the 'Zeon War for independence ' the new Prime Minister Gihren Zabi announces the name change from the Principality of Zeon to the Kingdom of Zeon to better demonstrate its nations independence.

U.C. 80 December 31st: General Victus and his forces tenure in the Sol system ends in an elaborate ceremony and the Alliance bids them a fond farewell.

U.C. 81: January 1st: The Alliance elects its first Chairman by a slim majority of 57%.

U.C. 81: February 14th: Through political work and arranged trade deals between the Alliance and the Citadel Council the planets of Bekenstein and Eden Prime are opened up for human colonial development in return for steep exclusive trading rights and military deals between the Citadel and Alliance. The development of the first Human-Turian mobile suits begins.

U.C. 81 February 20th: The Citadel ends its deal of retrofitting human vessels for FTL travel.

U.C. 81 February 23rd: The Federation unveil their first Element Zero warship to the public, two out of the original tendered donated to the Alliance as a gesture of good faith.

U.C. 81 March 12th: The Federation are allowed to assist with the development of the new Extra Solar colony Terra Nova.

U.C. 81 April 2nd: The Federation accuses the 'Principality of Zeon' of enacting illegal military operations on Earth, the Kingdom of Zeon denies any involvement or knowledge of such activities. This leads to an alliance investigation.

U.C. 81 April 6th: The Alliance confirm that Zeon forces are operating on earth and seem to be the forces who disappeared after Zeon failed to remove all its troops by 5th of January U.C. 80. They demand an explanation from Zeon.

U.C. 81 April 14th: A public T.V announcement from Colonel Otto Eichmann is broadcasted across the Earth sphere by the 'Invisible Knights of Zeon' demanding for the surrender of the corrupt Federation government to Zeon.

U.C. 81 April 15th: Degwin Zabi makes a public statement disowning the 'Invisible Knights of Zeon.'

U.C. 81 July 14th: Zeon forces on the moon rebuff an assault on their Mass Driver facility by the Invisible Knights preventing them launching a Nuclear strike against the Earth.

U.C. 81 July 16th: The Federation government publically thanks the 'Kingdom of Zeon' for preventing the strike.

U.C. 82 March 8th: The Federation recalls one of its element Zero ships from the Alliance after one of its other models is damage due to a navigation error. They neglect to replace the warship once theirs is fixed.

U.C. 82 March 20th: Zeon refuses to relinquish its newer mobile suit models to the Federation and claims it is under no obligation to provide the Alliance state secrets which could be accessed by hostile nationals.

U.C. 82 May 4th: The Zeon colony of Therum petitions the Alliance to take over the garrison on the planet amid 'fears' of pirate attacks. The request is rejected due to strained manpower.

U.C. 82 August 15th: Alliance forces storm Von Braun and the headquarters of Mars Zeon Mining amid allegations of illegal mobile suit deals to non-government organisations. No proof is found and the Federation and Zeon accuse the Alliance of overstepping its authority. There is an immediate call for an end to the restrictions on mobile suit sales.

U.C. 82 September 22nd: The 'Raid on Mindior:' The pirate raid ends with the capture if 5000 human civilians before Alliance forces can arrive. Accusations of negligence are levelled against the Alliance by the Federation and Zeon. Pleas by the Alliance for the Citadel to intervene are turned down due to a lack of evidence.

U.C. 82 September 24th: The Alliance attempts to primitively strike at a pirate base but is ambushed on route. While no leak was ever found it is suspected that someone tipped the pirates off.

U.C. 82 November 3rd-4th: Battle of Elysium 'The Skillian Blitz': A massive pirate fleet assaults the Alliance planet of Elysium and attempts to capture and enslave the population. Mobile Suit ground forces prove their worth with Minosky technology blinding attacking armour divisions and landing forces, while Mobile suits eliminate attacking raids across the planet. A lone mobile suit allegedly holds the planets capital city from 200 attacking armoured vehicles. The crippling landing party results in pirate forces bombing the planet with kinetic strikes from orbit for three hours through midnight, until they are driven off by Zeon space forces who respond. As with Mindior Zeon deployed a garrison force to defend the colony.

U.C. November 9th: The Alliance asks for ships and forces to combat the pirate raids from its various member states: donations are small and considered not enough to effectively protect the human colonies. While they ask for additional support Zeon and the Federation refuse to commit additional resources as to better protect their 'own interests.'

U.C. November 25th: Federation space mobile suit forces defeat a pirate raid on-route to the planet Terra Nova.

U.C. 82 November 30th: Occupation of Shanxi: The pirate raids reach a crisis point as in response to the Citadel decision and the threat of human expansion into the Attican Traverse pirates attack and occupy the planet of Shaxi for four days until expelled by Zeon relief ships.

U.C. October 1st: Alliance space forces fail to force the Batarian blockade to leave Shanxi orbit and are driven back.

U.C. 83 October 3rd: Liberation of Shanxi: Zeon space forces capitalise on their victory at Torfan and use Torfan as a lunching point against the now weakened Batarian space forces who are captured and crushed. They deploy a military garrison o Shanxi.

U.C. 82 December 23 -24th: Battle of Torfan: Tracking attacks back Admiral Delaz leads a Zeon strike force against Pirate forces at Torfan leading to a near total destruction of space pirate forces who were unable to combat the sheer quantity of mobile suits deployed. Like with all their victories Zeon garrison the moon bases as a military installation.

U.C. January 29th: The federation respond to the colony to another request from Therum for additional protection and deploy a garrison to the world within firing distance of the Zeon garrison, leading to massive investment from the Federation.

U.C. 83 May 24th: The Turian – Human ship the Normandy finishes construction.

U.C. 83 May 26th: Colony extension on Eden Prime uncovers a Prothean beacon, the site is locked down.

U.C. 83 May 27th: The Normandy is deployed to recover the Prothean Beacon

* * *

 **Author's notes**

Hello, I would just like to welcome you and thank you all for coming a reading through my first chapter of my new crossover. I would also like to give a shout out to everyone on the Spacebattle's forum page I set up to help with the planning of this fanfiction. I owe them a lot and I will be continuing to update both here and there as well.

Please offer your ideas, input and feelings on the story: I will listen to them all and I love feedback to bits.

Have a great day!


	2. Chapter 1: Eden Prime Part 1: Drop

**Chapter 1: Eden Prime Part 1: Drop**

* * *

It was the smell of fuel that always hit you whenever you entered a launch bay. It didn't matter if you were Zeon, Federation of part of the new Alliance, every pilot could tell that combat was near when they could noses caught the nostril stinging concoctions used to propel their mobile suits. This stench, along with the familiar feeling of zero gravity hit the gathered pilots as they rode the exposed elevator slowly down into the twenty meter high hanger bay.

The room itself was about 20 meters wide and the exposed steel guarders held the room together, contrastingly heavily against the dull padded walls found on the upper deck. The whole room was divided by a central black strip, on which sat the two primary catapults, mounted on a single track. This rail effectively divided the room in half and on each side rested four mobile suits that were so tightly packed together that the shoulder pads of some of them were just touching. Despite its sheer size of the room, the massive machines which were almost standing on top of one another meant that the room was a lot smaller than it initially appeared.

And this space was getting even smaller as everywhere the pilots looked the Normandy's twenty mechanics were flying through the zero G as if they were birds. Rushing here there and everywhere from computer terminals and using data pads to run detailed diagnostic for the various pre-flight checks.

Suddenly Bidan and Oliver who had ridden the elevator down with the pilots jumped off and let their own force carry them through the zero gravity to their respective crews. Bidan went to the right of the central catapult, and Oliver went left: it was the unspoken rule of the Alliance that all Zeon and Federation mobile suits should remain on separate sides, and here on the Normandy it was no different.

On the right stood four tall white and red mobile suits belonging to the GM series, ranging from Jenkin's GM canon with its oversized shoulder mounted beam weapon, all the way up to Shepard RGM-79N Custom. On the left sat however more varied machines, ranging from Shin's white Gelgollog Jager, Crown's Rick Dom II and of course Victoria's near black purple Kampfer E. It was certainly a contrast to see the rather hunched forms of Zeon's mobile suits next to the more ridged if humanoid Federation ones. But apart from them stood a different mobile suit: huge its crested head like that of Nihlus would have nearly touched the ceiling if not for its slouched posture; it had a square blocky frame that bloated out with curved metal and dark blue black ceramic. It was Nihlus's suit: the Ceaire.

The Zeon pilot Crown could not help but snort as he saw the hulky machine that had almost twice the bulk of his Rick Dom. "That things supposed to move, it looks barely able to stand." He laughed before giving the Turian a cocky glance as he jumped off the elevator to his cockpit. He could be heard laughing all the way to his own seat, a laugh that did not seem to phase Nihlus in the slightest.

"My apologies." Stated Shin with a bow, placing a hand on their Alien guests shoulder before leaping off to his own suit. "I will see to Crown later."

Nihlus however said nothing and kept his hands closely clasped behind his back as his green alien eyes surveyed the room in the tiniest detail: momentarily following Shin as he landed at his hatch.

Kane couldn't help but look as this alien soldier, this Spectre, and found it difficult to take his eyes off him even as he floated away himself towards his GM Custom. Victoria too found it strangely mesmerising to not keep an eye on their alien who was stubbornly riding the elevator down to the ground, even as the human pilots drifted through the void towards their own suits. The mere idea of an alien, a real alien just being there.

"Hey watch it" called a female voice from behind Kane causing him to spin around into a tangle of floating crimson hair, causing him to splutter incoherently.

"Watch it yourself Christie." He joked swatting the long strands away from his face as he gripped the roof to the entrance of his cockpit and climbing in

The girl who was looking down at him smiled, she was a tall, pale, and with crimson hair going down to her lower back, and looked around a year older then he was and, if truth be told was quite beautiful. She didn't take to Shepard's choice of words very well though. "It's Chris Commander." Although her sly smile as she dived towards her own GM Kai, couldn't help but make Shepard shake his head at the 1st Lieutenant, taking one more glance at back as she reached the suit, his eyes gazing down for a second before bracing himself for a sudden stop.

Reaching towards the lip of his GM Customs cockpit and pulled himself inside with a single swing on the handlebar. Once he had climbed into his seat and fastened his restraints he pulled his helmet on and with a twist he could hear the hiss of compression as the automatic sealing functions kicked in. And with a flick of a switch to the right of the door his mobile suits cockpit sealed shut.

For a moment Kane was in complete blackness, and he took a deep long breath as the warped noise from the hanger was drowned out by the two feet of military armour that now enveloped him on all sides. He enjoyed the momentary peace he had before combat, no bickering crew, no hum of the ship, no noise, no sister. He could truly be alone with his thoughts.

'God Chris has a nice...'

"You okay Commander" a voice suddenly said into his ease sudden static of the radio echoing now through his helmet.

Sighing to himself as his brief day dream was cut off Kane began to boot up his coms along with the rest of his suit "Yeah I am fine Jenkin's . Are you and Kaiden good to go?"

As more lights in the mobile suit started to flicker on and the three large monitors in front of him sparked to life, the thousands of micro cameras giving him a play by play detail of the hanger bellow him. He could only smile as the rest of his team chimed in.

"Yes sir: Is Christie okay" Kaiden asked, being ever the gentlemen?

Still Chris didn't need a person to answer for her and she came out with her same smug answer she normally did "I will be fine Kaiden, so long as the Commander doesn't make any more moves on me."

There was a slight chuckle from Jenkins who appeared on small rectangular screen in the corner of one of his monitors, smiling. In truth Kane couldn't help but smile to as he felt the mooring clamps around his suit give way, causing it to drop a foot and allowing the it to stand on its own power.

"You wound me Lieutenant" he joked, placing a hand on his chest theatrically before settling in for his instructions.

* * *

Far across the hanger bay Victoria had reached the cockpit to her purple mobile suit the Kampfer. She smiled as she climbed into the suit with little to no fuss, letting herself sink into her padded seat and pulling down the safety harness. Giving a thumbs up to a mechanic who came to check on her she went through her pre flight checks, making sure everything was still in its place. Once she was satisfied, with one motion she pulled the lever by her leg to seal her suits cockpit which she watched as the chaotic organisation outside her suit disappeared. Now tying back her long purple hair with one hand, she keyed for the engine to start, waiting patiently as the whole system booted up. Beneath her she felt the rhythm of the engine as the helium-3 hit the fusion core, causing the suit to swell and shake with power. Victoria found it slightly stifling being knocked around as she pulled on her helmet, as the cramped nature of the Kampfer cockpits made it very easy to knock oneself. But as she pulled it down she began to see her three monitors in front of her begin to activate and show her the outside.

And instantly she heard the same snide tone of Crown.

"You up for this Residue?"

Growling to herself Victoria had to calm herself with a deep breath before replying. "Its Commander, Ensign." Letting the weight of her rank settle for a while hoping it would buy her at least three seconds of peace from her wing mate.

"Sure thing Butcher" Crown sarcastically replied, quicker than Victoria expected as she ground her teeth together. 'Why is he even here?'

"Just keep that Beam Bazooka primed Crown, I don't want you burning it out before we need it." Shepard growled as she began to patch in Shin.

"Commander!" Barked the fiercely commanding voice of Shin Matsunaga. "Link us to the Federation suits, the frequency is 030-179, and then patch Captain Anderson in.

Without hesitation Victoria commenced with her orders. "Yes sir!"

It was nice to have a little order.

* * *

Studying the Normandy's brand new tactical hologram was serving to be a chore for Captain Anderson. As he understood it sensor data from advance laser pings, and detailed star charts were combined and controlled via on-board Virtual Intelligences to rapidly combine real time combat information into the detailed holographic map of the solar system that was floating in front of him. It was certainly an impressive little toy the Turians had strapped into the vessel, and he was sure it would have saved a lot of military blunders during the war. But he really would have preferred to learn how to use it during an actual training exercise, good lord he did not want to see what Minosky particles did to this thing. Still few men ever got to decide their own fates.

As he studied it he could pick out the five planets of the Utopia system, four of which were coloured a dark blue, with the second planet from the yellow holographic star, Eden Prime, being a vividly coloured green. He could also pick out three massive structures, space colonies, hovering around Eden Prime all coloured blue. And between them and the planet were three tiny ships broadcasting a distress call on an open frequency.

"Patch them through Joker" Anderson ordered as he tried to spot any evidence of the attackers or unidentified ships that would have been coloured red. But yet despite the blaring signals to highlight an attack he could not see any evidence apart from six shattered wrecks orbiting on the far side of Eden Prime away from the orbiting structures.

Joker's voice pulled Anderson back as he tracked his light blue own ship quickly cursing from the purple coloured mass relay towards Eden Prime.

"Got a reply Captain, the guy says he is Captain Synapse of the Belfast. Just a warning it doesn't sound good."

To Andersons left an orange holographic screen materialised, and inside the screen sat the appearance of an Alliance captain with a flat peaked cap who immediately saluted Anderson.

He wasted no time in getting into the meat of the issue. "Captain Anderson. We are glad you could respond to our situation so soon but we are having a little issue in locking down your position."

Anderson nodded in response but stayed quiet on the issue, the Normandy's stealth drive was classified after all, and instead he tried to direct the issue elsewhere. "We have more pressing matters Captain Synapse. Do you have a status on the Prothean Beacon?"

For a moment Captain Synapse merely blinked and pulled a face which seemed to carry a measure of agitation but understanding seriousness. "I presume then you're not here to support us." He clearly stated as he did not wait for Ann to respond. "No I am afraid not, last time I heard my superiors mention it they said it was near the capital where it was originally found, but we have had a communication blackout from the area around their since the attack. I can only guess it's where whoever is attacking is at."

Anderson carefully nodded as he took all of this in. "Thank you Capitan, do you have any idea what we are dealing with: is it the Terminus systems?"

"Terminus… what?" The aging commander replied looking somewhat confused before realising what Anderson meant. "No sorry sir I do not know… the attack was too sudden to get a reading on… they targeted our Columbus and Chivay transports first, well outside of visual range. They came out of the relay so fast we didn't even have time to get minsoky particles up to upset their targeting."

"Thats bad" Anderson said growling under his breath, he couldn't help but realise this could get even worse a lot faster if he didn't get all the facts.

"Worse..." the Alliance Captain hesitantly explained. "A-Anderson… their main gun… some kind of beam weapon… it didn't just take out one ship, it took them all out in one shot… we didn't stand a chance. "e couldn't even deploy our mobile…"

Raising his hand Anderson manged to quite the Alliance captain "Thank you Captain Synapse, do not worry your distress call got out. But right now we have a mission, you stay put and we will see what we can do."

Synapse did not respond immediately, but eventually replied with a very heavy tone. "Good hunting Captain. We will be in the colony construction yard if you need us."

The holographic screen flickered and died, leaving Anderson alone with his thoughts. He immediately raised his hand and barked out orders, carefully watching the tiny holographic form of the Normandy cross the map in front of him.

"Joker give me an ETA!"

"70 seconds out Captain"

Anderson eyes flashed as he considered this. 'So fast?'

"Patch me through to Matsunaga and the pilots; we need them on the ground ASAP!"

And so the Normandy, the first ever prototype mobile stealth carrier entered combat.

* * *

Getting the mobile suits ready took very little time, the Normandy was a state of the art vessel utilising the newest of mini-fabricator technology and V.I tech support. In addition the roof and floor mounted industrial mechanical arms could remotely retrieve weapons, ammo and supply's stored in the walls, floor and roof panels which would fold out to reveal the equipment.

In fact Kane Shepard was sitting in the cockpit of his RGM-79N looking through his hard link connection to the real time equipment list. By viewing the combat monitors that allowed him to see out of the suit and across the hanger floor, and using a gloved hand he scrolled his fingers across a small orange hologram that hovered an inch away from his main screen. He zoomed past a vast selection of ammo types, weapons and equipment, before highlighting a low powered beam rifle, 3 E-pac's for ammo and some of the new overload grenades that he had been hearing so much about.

Looking out of his suits cameras Kane could see the four arms around his mobile suit begin to move. The two on the roof turned towards two panels in the roof which slid out and their claw like hands gripped the three Epacs and a stack of four grenades which were then lowered down and with a sight clunk were attached magnetically to his suit. Bellow him one of the two arms was modifying his leg actuators for the planets gravity. The other had moved towards another unfolded panel that had revealed a wide selection of weapons and gripped a short but none the less gigantic gun and raised it up to the suits stomach height. All Kane now had to do was key the automatic retrieve program for his suit, but as he input the necessary commands his GM Customs' arm reached out but stopped just a meter above the Beam rifles grip.

Kane frowned, this had been a problem during testing and he swore they had fixed it. Switching off the automatic retrieval command the pilot just used his manual control to reach out and grab the rifle, letting the suit fingers flex as they gripped the handle. Now grumbling to himself at such a tiny oversight, he had to remind himself he had been told to report any malfunctions to the mechanics.

"Hey this is Kane, my automatic retrieval protocols are bugged, so I had to use manual." He said in a matter of fact tone, but got no response so he repeated himself. "Hey Bidan this is Kane my suits weapon retrieval protocols are off a bit so I had to use manuals, can someone look into it?"

Still no response.

"Hey Bidan this is Shepard I need a diagnostic on the…"

"Hey Commander this is Oliver." came a polite and upbeat voice over his headset. "What seems to be the problem?"

Instantly Kane felt his mouth go dry. Oliver was the ships expert on the new automatic loading system that was currently on the glitch, and was a major enthusiast for the whole set up. But what had really caused him to stall with his reply was the fact that, like over half the crew he was from Zeon.

"You okay Kane?"

"Oh it was nothing, it's just I had to use the manual system to grab my gun, I think the weapon loading arm may be slightly off." He managed to state as he licked his lips, "can you check that out when your able?"

Oliver's chipper reply made Shepard feel like his whole stomach had dropped out due to guilt. "Yeah sure I will get on that when I can, probably just an oversight in the operating system. That or we input your suits height in incorrectly. I will fix it."

"Thanks"

Kane very deliberately laid back into his seat taking another of what was feeling like a long series of deep breaths. He knew it was stupid to worry about a person's nationality when going into battle, and in truth it really shouldn't matter. But after the war he just found it hard to forget about everything they had done to him.

For some reason Kane felt compelled to use his Camera's to stare across the hanger bay at his sister's mobile suit. It was as of now laden down with half a dozen of weapons, way more than anything his GM custom could carry: and yet the robotic arms still seemed to be adding more. Kane snorted as he just couldn't help but think that it was so typical of Victoria to pack absolutely everything. Even when they were younger and had gone to a resort colony, their mother had forced her to unpack her rucksack three times so it could pass the weight requirements. It was a funny memory, a memory that for a moment brought a smile to Kane's lip. A smile that was quick to fade.

Suddenly Anderson's face appeared in the top right of the central monitor. "Right listen up, the plan is for you all to go in heavy and head straight for the dig site."

Kane caught his computer self-updating as a small mini map appeared in the lower left of his central monitor.

The captain continued to firmly doll out his orders. "You will secure the beacon and wait for pick up. Is that understood?

Suddenly the lights in the hanger turned red and the ship began to shudder ever so slightly as the Normandy began to make its re-entry through the planet's atmosphere.

Shin however unphased by the change nodded at Anderson and gave a firm "yes sir" which the rest of the pilots followed in an almost instinctive reaction: Almost everyone.

Victoria once again had hesitated for a second before simply brining her hands up in a salute the Federation captain. Still priming her mobile suit to unclamp itself from its dock. But as she glanced across the screen showing her 'squad mates; she saw the huge form of Nihlus mecha cross the hanger and place its unusual two clawed feet onto the primary launch catapult.

"Nihlus your coming with us" the voice of the Federation pilot Jenkins asked excitedly as the human crew watched the catapult pull him away from the opening hanger doors

Victoria spotted the clear movement of the giant suit reaching over to cock something on its huge autocannon, almost as if it was typing into it. A second later bright blue holographic lights appeared around the barrel of the gun and Nihlus suit braced itself for launch. "I move faster on my own" he replied in a blunt tone, and with that he was gone.

* * *

Atmospheric drops were a tricky manoeuvre for a mobile suit. Dropping forty to fifty tons of military hardware into a combat zone can be considered a difficult action. But a Mobile Suits AMBAC system turns the descent into a manageable task in the hands of a skilled pilot.

Still the feeling of being inside a cockpit as the suit it absorb kinetic and thermal energy from the wind resistance made the half a mile drop feel like you were standing at the heart of an earthquake.

For Victoria though this was everything. She smiled as her kampfer shuddered as its Vernier thrusters worked overtime to keep the suit upright during its descent, keeping her away from that ever dreaded terminal velocity. But for the purple haired pilot each crunching shake only got her more pumped for the battle to come, here she was dancing between this world and the next. It was during times like this she truly felt alive.

Hearing the beeping from her nearest console she saw its projection of her drop fall within the recommended area for her to activate her thrusters and slow her fall for a controlled descent. But Victoria smiled as she waited for her mobile suit to fall just that little bit further over the recommended green safety line and into the red.

She could hear the emergency warning beeping at her, as she got closer and closer to the ground. She could hear her team mate crown screaming at her to key her engine to start, asking if there was some mechanical malfunction. She could hear her suit buckle as the AMBAC systems went into overdrive to prevent her going into complete freefall. And then when the shaking was at its worst and the beeping at its loudest she grabbed the controls and keyed the engines for a full burn. And from beneath her she felt the fuel tanks dump a load off as the whole world out of her view screen suddenly rose up and a fall out of sight as the Kampfers eight thrusters shot her back up like a rocket.

And then she was falling again, but this time the drop only lasted a few seconds as looking through her view screen she saw the ground beneath her, and pushing her joysticks forward she felt the suit begin to move forward. And in perfect harmony with her commands the purple mobile suit fell into a roll and slid across the ground crushing a small tree to pieces as the gigantic war machine skidded from its own impact, carving a deep gash into the tilled soil beneath it.

Rolling up into a crouched position, her 90mm auto canon primed and ready she could not help smile. She wasn't grinning because of the yells of her commander as he and Crown's Dom and white Gereloog slowly descend behind her. 'No' she thought as she pulled her shotgun and held it in her mobile suits off hand.

Victoria had landed. Now the fun could begin.

* * *

"Team one this is team two. Respond?"

"We read you loud and clear Commander Kane, this is Team one we made it to the ground," said the always on point Major Matsunaga. "If we hit the ground correctly we should be 10 klicks from our target, and 3 klicks north of our position."

Straining his head to peer out of his flickering left console he could see the hulking shapes of three mobile suits slowly begin to make their way over a wide open field towards a nearby wood. "Roger that Sir, my team will sweep through the open terrain and try to lure some of them off you." There was a brief grunt from the major and then the line went silent. Knowing his orders he turned to the small collection of GM variations that had formed a small perimeter around him as he scouted his surroundings.

Still despite reading his scopes three times he could not see anything other than some minor static that irreversibly came with the Minovsky distortion, the left over waste particles from their reactors scrambling their own long range scanners. Consequently he used his suits optics to spot anything out of place. But apart from the sparsity of people and a few prefab white huts, that looked more like repurposed crates, nothing really stood out apart from the same blood red cloud that hung over the area as it had done in the distress signal.

"Right Jenkins, Christie take point, Kaiden you take up the rear with me."

"Confirmed commander, come on Chris lets go" an excitable Jenkins said taking his GM Kai into a slow jog raising his automatic canon in an attack position as he also held out a large circular dish like shield.

Chris reply was as usual the same firm, but collected tone she always had in combat, barking after Jenkins "Just keep that K-shield up Jenkin's, and no rushing in." Her mobile suit had quickly followed the same red white suit as it had rushed off ahead, raising her own automatic canon and large circular shield. Shepard and Kaiden were not far behind, taking it slow as they swept the horizon for hostiles.

For a full two minutes nothing happened. They had managed to cover a good 2 and a half kilometres rushing forward, constantly keeping an eye on their scopes. Yet for that whole time there wasn't even a blip as they made their way up a hill towards the direction of the dig site. But as every pilot knows things can go bad fast, and this was one of those situations.

Shepard gave the motion for Kaiden to move up first, his heavy canon would act as an excellent deterrent for anything that could possibly be hiding up there. Jenkins instinctively fell into support him raising his large dish like shielded as they bridged the lip of the hill.

"What the hell" Kaiden managed to yell out before his suit was met with a flurry of automatic fire and bright straight blue lines. The automatic fire pounded his armour causing it to buckle and break, but those bright lines swept down after initially missing and where they hit the metal and paint blistered slicing through like a hit knife with butter. And in two sweeping motions the superheated line of energy went over his cockpit and even as Kaiden tried to turn away before he was boiled alive a large rocket flew towards him and sent his mobile suit careening backwards down the hill where it rolled for a few seconds before hitting and crushing a tree causing it to come to a stop.

And so the chaos began.

Chris responded instantly yelling out her team mates name "Kaiden" before being blown off her feet by Kaiden's reactor breaching and going up like a fireball.

"Chris, get up their support Jenkins" Shepard ordered in a firm tone as he spotted the attacking fire, now turning towards his other soldier.

Jenkin's however was fairing much better, he had raised his circular shield to block the attacks, and around it a blue aura of energy took the brunt of the assault. The K-Shields kinetic barriers absorbed the impact of the projectile weaponry, while its thick armour absorbed the bright straight lines of energy. Chris didn't need a second command though as she too had rushed up the hill and began firing back at their assailants whoever they were. For Shepard however he took one look at the static map he had been given by Anderson before they had hit the ground, he could tell this hill curved around to the south and would leave any attacker exposed from his direction.

"Hold out a minute guys I have a plan" he ordered as a rocket hit Chris K-Sheild and scattering the blue aura that had been protecting her, forcing her to crouch down for cover. "Well hurry up" she yelled frantically as she reached down to her waist for a long cylinder that fitted snugly into the giant mechanical hand.

Shepard however was already making his way around, but as he checked his scopes he still could not see anything there, whoever they were fighting was jamming their signal somehow. Still having a split second of inspiration "V.I. patch me a small map through to Jenkin's camera I need to see what he sees."

In response the V.I. brought up a small picture on his right console of Jenkin's primary camera. And what he could see was a mobile suit, if you could call it that. Thin, angular and curved, the thing was and yet was not a mobile suit. It had the humanoid shape, but its head was almost connected to its body that was made up of metallic plates that seamlessly worked in with a steel grey fibre muscles at its joints, rather than the servos clearly visible on his GM. Also its whole body was just too thin, looking like it had been squeezed by a vice into the tiniest space possible. And did it have dog legs?

Kane briefly wondered, as he now got within visual sight of it, where there was room for the cockpit before the whole thing suddenly spun around on the dime and bent its flashlight head at him, from which a beam of blue energy shot out and hit his suit in the shoulder. It was only a glancing hit, but considering the damage report told him his arm was still there it likely wasn't a beam weapon: so it had to be a laser. Returning fire his actual beam weapon scored two successive hits on the things torso, right where most mobile suit cockpits where. However while what looked like an inbuilt barrier sparked, absorbing the first blast, the second round hit home but whatever it was merely stumbled back with a gaping molten wound in its chest. Slowly readjust itself as it raised its own weapon arm at him.

A form of blue projectiles flew towards the commander and instinctively he activated his thrusters and leapt into the air arching up and over the canon fire before coming down directly on the suit firing two more shots that cleanly cut through the suit. The head disintegrated on impact as its kinetic barriers flashes as the attack hit it, and its shields flashed a second time as the beam energy sliced into its thin arm, boiling the synthetic muscle and turning the metallic plates to slag. But as he crushed the wreckage underfoot as he landed on top of the toppling mobile suit, Kane realised something.

Whoever these people were they had kinetic barriers in their mobile suits: something he had heard was still in testing.

Suddenly from within the trees another one of the tall spindly mobile suits emerged forcing itself on him as he instinctively forced his mobile suit to leap to one side as one of the blue projectiles hit his arm and bounced off. And then from behind that one a much larger, more bulky suit emerged carrying a shield holding a bazooka over his shoulder: A bazooka like the one that would have taken out Kaiden. Their assault was quite deadly as the two suits seemed to work in perfect tandem with each other. The larger suit took the lead, its shields and body taking one, two, three beam shots to the chest and barely moving: while the other used its larger cousin for cover. But yet even as the larger one was hit it just kept slowly advancing firing its bazooka one rocket after another, well beyond the clip size most mobile suits should have. The smaller one however whipped out from behind it and closed the gap and firing its mouth laser once more, yet missed him by mile, and slicing three trees in half instead.

This attack gave Shepard the opening he needed and as he jumped over the thin suit he fired straight down, the beam hitting the head and almost slicing the suit in two.

Whatever redundant systems of cockpit the suit had, it sure as hell couldn't survive being bisected like that.

And sure enough the suit exploded as wherever its reactor was finally cracked, although it wasn't as big of an explosion Kane was used to. Still as he turned his beam rifle on the larger attacker he noticed he had only one shot, and he made it count, firing a single bright yellow beam for the head which arched back from the attack, its glowing mono eye fading away from the attack.

Landing in front of the suit he dropped his gun and pulled out his beam sabre and let the long energy sword reach its full length before he brought it along for a long slashing strike across the belly trying to cut it in half like his last attacker. However the massive bulky suit, even with three holes and a partially missing head still had enough power to grab his arm as he swung it around forcing Kane into a grapple he realised he couldn't win. And as the giant suit arched its half damaged head back up a blue energy began to build up beneath the shattered mono eye, charging to strike. And Shepard fired his head Vulcans back in response for all the good it would do, whatever these things were they just would not stay down!

Suddenly the sound of canon fire erupted and Kane saw his attackers shields spark and suddenly dissipate and his back explode in a volley of canon fire. And that was the deathblow to the machine that collapsed to one knee and slumped to the side.

Across from him past the freshly made wreck stood a battered but still functioning Zaku, holding its 120mm canon right at him, or rather right at the now fallen assailant.

"Hey you okay" a voice that strangely struck Shepard as familiar.

Looking up at the Zaku Shepard replied over the intercom with a rather dry voice, "Yeah thanks…"

"Hey p-piece of cake," the voice from the Zaku tried to say confidently, but did not fool anyone with the clear break in his voice. "Oh Ensign Bernard Wiseman, of the Alliance 12th Mobile Regiment, Sir!"

Shepard smiled, "at ease soldier."

* * *

Victoria felt the heavy vibrating quake as her hovering mech jolted back for a second before speeding forward, as the power and force of her shotgun erupted from its barrel and its multiple pellets hit the barrier of her three assailants finally causing their barriers to break, spark and die. Zooming past them she was taken by surprise of their turning speed but by gripping a large nearby tree like a poll she spun her suit around faster than her suit normally could and charged again firing her head Vulcans and drawing one of her 90mm autocannons. The added firepower brought down one of the skinner mechs and damaged the other two.

To her left a yellow beam fired and tore into the side of one of the strange skinny mech and ruptured its left arm before continuing to cut deep into its torso. Victoria thought it was finished until the skinny mech raised its pistol like weapon and fired a volley of mass accelerator rounds that clipped her shoulder, denting one of her decorative horns. Still as she slammed into it fell over onto its back where it continued to lie.

With only one attacker remaining Victoria roared as she dropped her shotgun and grabbed one of her two beam sabres and cut the mobile suit horizontally along the hips, causing it to fall into a pile of two separated parts.

Smiling to herself as she took a second to stare down at her severed, mono eyed attacker. "And stay down, she called with a hint of pride before turning to retrieve her shotgun, until her mobile suit alarm went off highlighting something had trapped her leg. Tilting her suits head down she saw her assailant arm had somehow reached out and grabbed her suit, which was quickly ended with a swift curb stomp.

'Guess he didn't get the message.'

As the mobile suits head shattered, she finally noticed the forms of Shin and Crown's mobile suits come back into view from the trees.

"Sir Enemy eliminated," Victoria said her own mobile suit saluting, "thanks for the assist."

"Tough mothers aren't they," Crown said nonchalantly.

Shin however shot the suit that Shepard had knocked over and was still relatively intact. The beam superheated the ground around the attacker causing it to explode and send harmless shrapnel everywhere. Obviously he didn't trust its pilot was dead. Now plugging another E-pac into his weapon as he brought himself up on both his troops' monitors, he seemed unusually grim and serious, and his voice showed it "ambushes… very dishonourable."

"Hey sir should we keep to our normal route to the dig site?"

Victoria shifted her mobile suits optics to the large Dom on her left and casually teased him, "scared Crown?"

"Nah, just bored" came the quick comic reply.

Shin shook his head and began to move out, forcing his mobile suit to hover as it charged forward. "Yes we will head through the prescribed route. Now move out!"

"Sir" both of his pilots said in unison.

Still as they cut through the wood without further incident a horrific sight met their suits optics.

* * *

As Shepard's team had made its way through the woods and over the gradual sloping valley's around Eden Prime's capital they stayed alert as they moved as quickly as possible. As they got nearer though they spotted the burnt out husk of a GM and one or two later model Zaku's, the damaged wrecks riddled with thousands of holes, of what was clearly automatic canon fire. Kane order his team to slow up their pace so they would not be caught completely off guard if they were ambushed again, keeping his targeting array high on ridge. Still as Bernard guided them nearer the city they found the silence, apart from the occasional distant cannon shot their suits could pick up, eerily unnerving. They saw the twisted hulks of some of these strange new suits, burnt and shattered beyond all repair, but apart from that nothing. Many of them had been in major battles before, but walking through the remains of such a fresh conflict just did not sit right with them. They all felt it, they were being watched.

As such Kane decided to get what Intel he could from his on-board computer while on the march, and during the four minutes from meeting him Bernard provided what he could on Eden Prime. And while their newest pilot explained all he could about how he and his team, under a Sargent called Ashley, had helped secure the site, and how he had to keep back stray Earth refugee's, Shepard knew most of the information he was providing was trivial at best.

"So Bernard," Kane asked, trying to move onto the more pressing topic, as he and his troops followed the alternative route their new accomplice had recommended. "What can you tell us about the attack?"

"Call me Bernie… um sir. And sure, although truth be told I can't tell you much," the Zaku pilot admitted as he took point up a rather steep hill.

"Why is it classified" Chris asked harshly over the com's, the menace taking Shepard and Jenkin's somewhat by surprise.

"Well no. It was all so sudden, and chaotic, I am surprised Ashley got me and my team to the comm relay; we barely got a message out. Still I bagged three of them myself!" As Bernard lamented his Zaku moved to a halt slightly before the heads of the groups suits were able to peep up over the top of the hill. Bernard of course wasted no time in explaining why he had stopped saying in a hushed whisper "Right we are hear."

Causing Jenkin's to ask almost mockingly back in a similar whisper, "why are you whispering, we are in 40 ton war machines."

Shepard however brushed Jenkin comment off and moved his GM up beside Jenkin's. He gave the order for Jenkin's and Chris to stand guard while he and Bernard moved out on foot to the dig site just over the hill. Shepard had naturally brought along his trusty side arm, an old revolver he had since the war ended. Chris of course had protested the idea of him moving away from his suit with the enemy mobile suits around, although Shepard pointed out one important factor.

"We are here to recover the beacon Chris, not to crush it, and running in guns blazing is sure as hell to do that. So stay put and stay down, and if I need help I will call n help." He told her as he clambered out of his cockpit. "We are likely going to need to move this thing by hand."

Chris had tried to argue the minonsky density level, but Kane already knew that they were too low to cause any trouble to his comm's at the moment. Something which struck him at odds with the number of wrecked enemy mobile suits.

Two minutes later he and Bernard were at the top of a tree line looking down over the valley which contained the capital city. And it was on fire.

Constant from what Shepard had known was largely a refugee camp, as not much could be built in three years. Seeing the settlement of around ten to twenty thousand burning off in the distance, against the backdrop of half constructed skyscrapers, momentarily struck him. He had seen cities in flames back on earth, but for some reason hearing the screams outside of his suit made it all the more impactful. Bernard wasn't doing much better, and for a second the two of them just stared in horror at the burning human 'city.'

The sound of a gunshot caught them off guard and they dived for cover as the automatic weapons fire of three human sized, bow backed legs robotic creatures, landed near them. The three flashlight head attackers were deeply entrenched a dug out side of the hill, right in heart of a series of old stone pillars

Shepard wasted no time in firing back and saw at least one of the bullets harmlessly ping off its kinetic barriers.

Bernard fired back with his own side arm and as he emptied his automatic clip, saying the same thing as that Shepard realised.

"Fuck!"

"Chris get your cute butt up here now!"

A few second later the trees behind them were knocked aside as Christies GM Kai burst forth and jumped over both their heads and down into the valley. The mobile suit towered over the area and almost peered down casually at the three tiny robotic creatures firing not at it rather than Bernard and Shepard.

Chris raised her gun only for Shepard to reach for the communicator in his helmet "No, the ruins Christie!"

Acting on the commands she pulled the barrel away from the pillar ruins and had her towering mobile suit instead walk after the fleeing three robots. Shepard took this time to turn to Bernard and ordered him back to the Zaku while he checked the dig site. And as soon as Bernard ran off Shepard could hear a clear and crisp sound of electronic chirps and whistles followed by a rather morbid metallic crunching sound.

As Shepard slid down the hill and made it to the site which Chris had half trampled through in her giant war suit, he had to give her credit for missing the centre of the structure, which of course happened to be empty. Kane rubbed his eyes as he half cursed yet half expected this outcome. Still deciding to report it in he reached for his headsets coms and sent out the signal.

"Major, this is Kane, the site is a no go. I repeat the Beacon is not here."

The sounds of muffled canon fire, you usually heard inside a mobile suit cockpit, responded. "Understood commander" came Shin's voice, "We will be with you in two-" there was a loud explosion "-make that three minutes" the stern yet commanding voice yelled.

"Do you require support?"

To Shepard's reply Shin laughed "Negative, but your concern is respected, no we have this quite…" Shin paused for a moment and there was a sound of an even larger explosion. "-in hand. I recommend checking the digs camp, Shin out." Shrugging his shoulders Kane began to move towards the camp but had to stop when he realised he could still hear his commanding officer over the com's yelling things like. "Right there" and "let this be the final blow," over and over.

Kane could do nothing as he made his way up the hill, making sure Chris was not far behind him as he scouted out on foot. But as he reached the summit Kane heard a crackle over his comm's "Shepard this is Nihlus, I got your message; I am half a click ahead of your position. I am going to check out a spaceport, if you do not find a beacon wait for the rest of your team before linking up with me over!"

* * *

Nihlus mobile suit roared across the Eden countryside making rapid speed towards its destination with its multiple thrusters allowing it to glide a few feet off the ground. The new Ceaire with its element zero core while on average around fifty to sixty tons was actually closer to 20 tons in weight, so with its modular steam vent thrusters it could reach land speeds no other mobile suit could. While it was not a perfect machine it had its perks.

Immediately as three of the enemy mobile suits appeared on his screen, all of them rushing him as they took up position on the hill. Raising his gun and let out a volley of automatic weapon fire as his gigantic kinetic canon cracked the air and hit in and around the area of his new assailants. Each round caused a micro explosion where it hit upsetting the three flashlight attackers, still the beeping within his cockpit signalled he had overheated the canon so he glided to the left letting his chest mounted canon fire again to keep them at bay. This attack to did not last long as the heat build-up of his interior weapon reached its safe maximum, but he did notice that their shields had cracked open. Still his opponents were only now just getting shots off at the Turian and his mobile suit shots which while accurate were pinning uselessly off his kinetic barriers. Waiting out the volley he watched his shields go down doing his best to keep himself at range, he did not have to wait long for his canon to come back online. Charging in close he raised his canon and fired a flurry of four, three round busts, some of which missed, but most of which hit their opponents in their heads and armour punching into it and denting I enough for him then to open up with the Cearie's head machine guns.

And as two of the attacking mobile suits fell to the ground and Nihlus sent the last one flying he could not help but smile at the sheer firepower of the new suit. 'Maybe there is something to these mobile suits' he thought as his mandibles parted to show his needle like teeth, in a Turian version of a smile.

Forcing his mobile suit to crouch down he began to inspect his attackers. He had to admit he had never seen this type of mobile suit before, and he sincerely doubted that it was of human origin. It was to organic, and yet the bright glowing singular eyes reminded him of the Zeon mobile suits he had looked at while doing reading for his pilot training. And yet it reminded him of something else.

It only took a quick extranet search to confirm his theories, as the unmistakable form of a Geth appeared on his left monitor, the smooth voice of the V.I giving the briefest overview of the galactic codex's knowledge on them. Still no matter what the Virtual Intelligence said about the Geth being hidden behind the Perseus veil of nearly destroying their old Quarian masters: the suit rats Artificial Menace was back.

"Major, this is Kane, the site is a no go. I repeat the Beacon is not here." The voice of one of the human commander's caught the Spectre attention. In one swift motion he disabled the extra net search and had his suit back on his feet. Still as he listened in on the rest of the conversation he was surprised to hear the beacon had been moved. The human major had a point on the beacon being moved to the camp, but he doubted it was still there as well, it was only up the hill from the dig site so it was likely they had already prepped it to be taken off world. Doing another quick search he found a train leading to the nearest spaceport.

"Shepard this is Nihlus, I got your messag;, I am half a click ahead of your position. I am going to check out a spaceport, if you do not find a beacon wait for the rest of your team before linking up with me over!"

It did not take him long to get a reply "Copy Nihlus, will do. I can send one of my team mates to assist you if you want?"

Nihlus gripped his two joysticks and smiled as he felt his fusion engine rev to life. He could not help but force a smile as he felt the power of the suit all around him. "No I do not think that will be necessary." The Turian knew his pride getting the best of him as his suit rocketed off, drawing in and superheating the air around him for his thrusters as he charged forward. Still he knew he didn't need to worry.

Prepping his weapon systems, even getting his back mounted canon ready, he could not help but find the lack of opponents frighteningly low. Did the Geth overrun Eden prime with so few suits, or did they have help. It was a question that would have to be answered later, but sure as hell he knew this would not reflect well on the Alliance.

Still As he got to the spaceport he had to do a double take as he saw something that was completely out of place: an all-white mobile suit standing at the centre, a mobile suit which was the exact same size and build as his Cearie. It should not, it could not be here, only a few models had been realised as of a few months ago so the Geth having one was completely out of the question. Still as he carefully made his way round to the far side of the facility a signal broke in on his channel and a familiar flanging voice met his ears.

"Nihlus!"

"Saren" the Turian said knowing his mentors voice from anywhere "What are you doing here?"

Saren clearly gave a small snort as his suit turned to face his protégé. "My own mission," he replied his voice cold and calculating as he brought the white Caire round to face Nihlus black one.

"This isn't your mission," the Turian wondered aloud as he lowered his weapon, wondering how he should greet his old friend inside a suit such as this. I mean was it practical to use the manual control to rest his hand on his shoulder or shake the others Caire's actuator.

Saren reply caught him off-guard, "I received a tip about a possible attack on this colony," Saren muttered striding past him and towards one of the many downed Geth vehicles, bending his suit down as if to make a closer inspection.

Nihlus nodded walking past him, now using his scanners to see what he could pick up from the nearby spaceport. "This is bad; I did not expect the Geth." He announced, reading off the returning data, casually noting that Saren was now standing behind him.

"Don't worry," his old friend said in a cool and confident voice, "I have it under control."

* * *

 ** _Codex_**

* * *

 _K-Shield_

Ever since the introduction of Kinetic barrier to human military warfare, weapons designers have been rushing to develop a practical means of adapting it to mobile suits. However due to the recent introduction of the technology, combined with technical issues and Citadel regulation of what companies can manufacture Mobile Suits the instillation of such technology progressed at a slower rate than expected. Still a Kinetic barriers ability to 'scatter' the particles and deflect the blast of a single shot from a beam weapon has lead it to be hailed as the next step in evening the military playing field.

Contrary to public perceptions you cannot just install a kinetic barrier generator and expect it to flawlessly adapt to a mobile suits shape. Adding in the extreme draw rate that the now huge shields place on many suits and the expense to procure the needed element zero is one of many issues that mankind has faced when adapting the crucial technology.

The K-Shield, or Kinetic Shield, is a recent introduction to Federation and Alliance military units by Adrian labs. Generating a wide static barrier from within a circular metal shield, the barrier generated can be maneuvered by a mobile suit arms to cover a whole squad of troops advancing. Acting on its own internal power supply it solves many of the issues with current inbuilt shields while adding an only minor weight issue. However it has been noted by Federation military personal to be more bulky then previous shields, leading to balance issues on high gravity worlds, and some lone wolf pilots to christen it as dead weight. It currently has entered into limited production for weapons testing, and some have been loaned to the Joint Alliance forces.

 _The Alliance_

The Alliance is a jointly run super national government representing the interests of the human race as a whole. The Alliance is responsible for running and protecting human extra solar colonies, sides and stations, while at the same time administrating and overseeing the various needs of its member nations.

The Alliance was formed in 2080 C.E (U.C 80) following the conclusion of the Federation Zeon conflict, sometimes referred to as the One Year War or Zeon War for independence. Established to administer humanities new colonies and negotiate with the Citadel council: it was given the ideological goal of also hoping to reunite the human species under a single banner. Supported and funded by the various national powers of humanity and the Citadel Council it has been responsible for overseeing their species introduction to galactic politics.

Still long standing issues from the mentioned conflict, and the fact many colonies like those around Jupiter refuse to recognise the Alliance as the political head of humanity has placed concerns for the legitimacy of the organisation. Concerns over its bureaucratic nature and the difficulty of forging cross national unity has led to many people across human space to label the Alliance a failure after only three years, with many calling those who support it puppets to the larger Citadel Council. Recent failure to prevent pirate attacks has also lead to major national powers securing certain colonies with their own forces, disregarding Alliance laws to prevent an expansion of national interests outside of the Sol system.

* * *

 **Authors notes**

* * *

Simply took, this took way longer than it should have ;p

Enjoy and tell me what you think?


	3. Cancellation and Revival

**Aurthors Notes**

* * *

Okay in short this fic is cancelled

Due to feedback I have been getting here and elsewhere I have realised I have unintentionally made the plot too… silly. 3 years to get to Mass Effect 1 after first contact… yeah that was dumb od me.

Still the good news is that I have over the last few months put some more thought into the story, done some restructuring and will be redesigning the story with a less complexed approach but still avoiding all that "Humanity Fuck Yeah" junk that I see in too many fanfictions.

I will admit I have yet to start writing the first chapter, due to Uni work and my own ineptitude and fascination with 'over planning.' But I fully intend to redesign and rerelease this story with some minor and major changes.

For 1. No more female Shepard, the two Shepard idea was dumb and over complicated. And 2. It will be set at least twenty years after the OYW although due to peace Mobile Suit technology will be somewhat less advanced and in some ways more advanced.

I do also wish to avoid creating too many OC suits for this series, although I will admit the necessity of having a few, although a good deal shall remain cannon suits from the Gundam series with some Mass Effect inspired upgrades.

Now I am telling you all this because unlike hundreds of Fanfic writers who make something and wander off I am telling you this bluntly and truthfully as I want to get this fanfiction started.

So if you have any ideas send them to me in a PM or review and I will consider them in my upcoming story – although please be reminded that I may not be able to use everything and this story is more focussed on plot rather than mechanical details.

Thank you for reading this and understanding

The P.B.G


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